At Random
by Sister of the Moon
Summary: A series of unrelated oneshots all based off prompts from a random word generator. Mostly Liason.
1. Recklessness

**At Random: **Recklessness

_Just a series of one-shots prompted by a random word generator. Mostly for fun and mostly centered around Jason. Sometimes there will be more than one prompt per chapter, although we're starting off with one here. If you'd like to see more, please do let me know!

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_

It started with a comment that Carly made, _"Let's face it, Lizzie, you're just not enough woman for him. Not wild enough, not smart enough and not strong enough."_

Jason had told Carly to shut up pretty quickly, but Elizabeth had barely noticed. Being with Jason was the most amazing part of her life thus far. He was, when he finally gave in to the inevitable, the best boyfriend she'd ever had. While they were pretty damn happy with each other, they had their problems. His tendency to be arrested, attacked and shot at just one of them.

Another was that lately, Elizabeth had started to feel like some little housewife that he came home to after an exciting day at the office. When she threw in Carly's little comment, the same sort of thing that rang in the back of her own mind, and the fact that she felt they connected best on the back of his bike, obliterating speed limits and screaming into the wind and there were really only so many ways she could respond to it all.

She knew she was right when he didn't really work too hard to talk her out of it. So maybe she wasn't going to join the mob, she thought as she ducked under the chain link fence he was holding up for her, but that didn't mean they couldn't get a little reckless with each other in other ways.

"You can back out still." He offered, glancing down at her and then up at the dark train in front of them.

"No way." She said, smiling and not bothering to hide that while train-surfing was her idea, she was a little nervous.

He flashed her a grin that made her knees a little weak and then started climbing up the side of the train. When he was on top, he turned back around and held a hand down to her. She worked her way up to the top with his help and then laid flat when he told her to. "Last chance." He whispered when the guard made his rounds and then yelled to someone further up the tracks.

"Just another way to go nowhere fast." Elizabeth said, reaching out and grabbing his hand when the train jerked to start.

He didn't respond, and the train began building speed. Elizabeth shifted so she could look above them and saw the stars streaming past. Beside her, Jason started to slowly rise to his feet. When he was standing above her, he nudged her side and Elizabeth took her cue.

"Slowly," Jason said, having to yell over the wind. She did as she was told and slowly moved to her feet, hunching over like he was. Jason moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her steady. It felt as though she was being shoved by the force of the wind, but him having her back saved her from completely falling over.

Jason stayed quiet behind her, but Elizabeth couldn't help it. She screamed and laughed and sent a wordless little "thank you" to Carly when Jason started doing the same with her.

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_More to come, if you're interested. **Reviews are love. **_


	2. Impact

**At Random: **Impact

-OOO-

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"Listen, Morgan," Sorel said, his voice oily and falsely respectful. It made Jason want to shower every time that he was forced to be in the bastard's presence, though hopefully this was the last time that he'd have to hear it. "We're playing by my rules."

"Show her to me or this is over." Jason said, voice monotone, though inside he was some volatile mix of fear and rage.

Sorel smiled and Jason knew that he was convinced that Jason had followed his instructions to the letter. Sorel obviously thought that the game was going his way. He'd called Jason, who had only just returned to town, and had put a terrified Elizabeth on the phone.

"_Don't… Jason, please! Don't listen, they're…" _

"_Elizabeth!" Jason called almost desperately. He felt something in him clench at her sobs. Everything that he'd tried to prevent, everything he had stayed away for, was happening right in one moment. _

"_Mr. Morgan, good to speak to you." Sorel said. It was bold of him to speak to Jason directly. Normally some low player would be the one doing this sort of grunt work. Sorel was nothing but cocky, though, and this just proved it. The second Jason heard his voice, he silently vowed to destroy him. _

"_Sorel." Jason acknowledged, not at all trying to sound as though he was calm. He could try that, as though he didn't care about Elizabeth, but after hearing her he knew he couldn't pull it off. Sorel was playing with fire and Jason wasn't willing to let Elizabeth be burned. _

_The man laughed, "Your girlfriend is lovely company, but I'd like her much better if she was quiet. Too much screaming." _

"_Let her go." Jason said, though he knew it was useless. _

"_Come now, Mr. Morgan. I admire to you too much to hear those cliché's." Sorel said, making a tisk-tisk noise. "Wouldn't you much rather talk business?" _

_Jason didn't say anything, knowing Sorel would grow impatient. When he didn't respond, Sorel did as predicted. "You won't be telling Mr. Corinthos about this. Or anyone in his organization. I need your word, and if there's one thing I've seen about you that matches up to the myth, it's your inability to lie."_

_Jason didn't hesitate, "I will not contact Sonny." _

"_Or anyone in his organization." Sorel reminded. _

"_I won't talk to anyone in his organization." Jason said, and meant it. _

_Sorel sounded pleased, "And just in case, we're going to be watching Mr. Corinthos. Any sign that his organization is mobilizing against me, and Miss Webber can give your regards to the first Mrs. Corinthos." _

_The slight against Lily only served to make Jason angrier. "What do you want?" He said, all but growling. _

"_You." Sorel said simply. "What information about Mr. Corinthos I can force out of you and then your dead body. I imagine I'm in for a fascinating few days. Now, Mr. Morgan," Sorel told him, "You're going to follow my instructions to the letter, aren't you? Meet me…"_

That had been yesterday and Jason had kept his word. Unfortunately for Sorel, he hadn't made Jason promise not to tell Carly, who had run right to Sonny. She'd managed to work as a go between for them as they worked out a plan without ever speaking to each other. To keep as inconspicuous as possible, should Sorel actually be tracking Jason, he'd met with Carly only once. After, she'd called him with a single word answer from Sonny.

Yes.

Right now he needed to keep Sorel going as long as possible. He wanted to give Sonny's men a chance to infiltrate Sorel's warehouse set-up as quietly as possible. If one of them gave things away and Elizabeth paid the price…

Still, his stall got him what he wanted. Sorel made an impatient motion to the man standing off to the side next to a door that he slipped through. A moment later Jason heard a struggle and some sort of muffled yelling. He didn't smile, but something in him unclenched the slightest bit when he heard her fighting back.

Elizabeth didn't look to be injured, not from the way she was kicking around. Sorel eyed her with distaste, "Miss Webber, we have a visitor."

She whipped her head towards Jason almost instantly. Whatever reassurance hearing her fight had given him was ripped away when he saw the dark bruise over her cheek, as though she'd been backhanded. "Elizabeth." He said quietly. He shut his mouth and clenched his jaw before continuing, "It's okay. Don't fight."

"Yes, Miss Webber. Thanks to Mr. Morgan here you'll be released. I trust you'll run to Mr. Corinthos, but that won't matter. We'll be far from here before you can do much." Sorel told her, mocking her and the way she kept her eyes on Jason.

"Let her go, now." Jason ordered, "You have me."

Sorel turned to consider Jason. "I suppose I do." He observed, as though he hadn't been sure that his plan would work. He motioned again to his men, "We're ready to head out." He stated, not asked.

"Yes, sir."

Jason paid no attention to Sorel, but rather stared into Elizabeth's terrified eyes. _Trust me._

_I do._

Elizabeth stared at him desperately and he could tell she didn't have much more fight in her. He tried not to let anything out, not that he was relieved or tense for the next part of their plans. He would not give anything away to Sorel.

The men were apparently aware of what came next without being told. They pulled Elizabeth away from Jason, dragging her to the door. He turned to Sorel, ready to ask where she was being taken, mostly to keep up appearances.

Instead, he was cut off by a bleeding man who didn't work for Sonny. Jason cut his eyes to Elizabeth, hoping Sorel's other men would get her out the door before this new guy could say anything.

"Sir!" The man panted. Sorel turned to him and narrowed his eyes, "Corinthos… outside…"

Sorel snarled and pulled a gun from his coat pocket. Jason made sure to keep his eyes on Sorel and away from Elizabeth, hoping that the man would take this supposed betrayal of their terms out on him and not through Elizabeth, that he would forget she was even there.

-OOO-

Elizabeth fought her guards as they began dragging her away from Jason. She was hoping to slow them down when they got outside so she could memorize whatever she could about the area. Sorel had said to Jason that they were leaving once she was gone, but anything she could tell Sonny would be a help in saving Jason.

Behind them, she could hear someone run into the semi-abandoned warehouse and start to speak to Sorel. She thought she could hear Sonny's name and her eyes widened. _No, no…_

She struggled to turn around and see something, _anything_, of what was going on behind them. One of the men trying to drag her out the door seemed to finally tire of her thrashing and slung her over his shoulder as though she were a sack of potatoes. Elizabeth screamed in frustration through the gag.

The only good thing that came from her uncomfortable new position was that she could lift her head and see Jason.

Sorel turned from a bloody man standing behind them to Jason, his face turning red. He pulled a gun from nowhere and shot Jason, point blank. Jason remained standing for a second before stumbling back, hand over his chest. Elizabeth felt a scream building in her throat, but she couldn't get anything out. Her eyes were glued to him as he fell down on the concrete of the floor, silent and still.

The door shut.

Outside the warehouse was like a warzone. Guards she recognized and some she didn't were on them in a second. Whatever Sorel had been told was obviously correct, though she hadn't heard a thing, Sonny was obviously here somewhere. She was dropped as the three men in charge of moving her were suddenly forced to defend themselves. Max, one of the guards she knew by name, grabbed her and pulled her away from the fighting.

"Miss Webber," He said, "Are you alright?"

She screamed again, whatever had frozen her before was gone. Now she needed to talk to him, to find Sonny and to get someone to help Jason. Max saw the problem and pulled the gag away from her mouth as he kept them moving.

"Jason," She croaked, her voice hoarse from the screaming. Max didn't react and pushed her through the door to a car that she hadn't noticed in her panic.

Sonny sat across from her, talking on a cell phone to someone that was probably somewhere close by. "Keep the silencers on… we can't let the police hear a thing. Has anyone gotten in the warehouse?"

"Sonny!" Elizabeth cried. He turned to look at her, but didn't pause in giving orders. "Jason's been shot. He's in the warehouse, I saw -"

"Where?" Sonny asked, before barking something else to the person on the line.

"Where?" She repeated, unsure of what he meant. "The warehouse, in that front room."

"No, where was he shot?" Sonny asked, clarifying what he meant.

Elizabeth closed her eyes as the image of Sorel shooting Jason flashed in front of her eyes. "The chest. Someone told Sorel you were here…"

"Listen, you keep as many alive as you can, I want information..." Sonny ordered, cutting Elizabeth off. He didn't seem nearly as concerned as he had a moment ago and Elizabeth felt something in her harden at the fact that Jason's supposed best friend couldn't seem to care less that he'd been shot.

"Sonny! Aren't you listening? Jason is…" She yelled, voice cracking as she raised it.

"Right here."

She turned to Jason, who stood outside the door of the car. He had his hand to his chest and seemed to be in pain, but Elizabeth could see no blood.

"Jason, get in the car." Sonny said, shutting the cell phone finally.

Jason did as he was told, but slower than she would have thought imaginable. She stared at him in shock. Sorel had been so close and he hadn't missed. She'd seen it with her own eyes. If Jason had lived, he wouldn't be walking. This wasn't a wound to the side, this was a point-blank…

"_Elizabeth_!" Jason called, sounding as though he'd done it before. She realized that she was practically panting. Everything seemed to be catching up with her. "Are you okay?"

"Me?" She said, her voice sounded a little more like a squeak than she would have liked had she even been paying attention. "Jason, you're shot."

"No." He said, shaking his head. He pulled his shirt up, revealing a Kevlar vest with a dent in it where Sorel had shot him. "But it feels like it."

"You okay?" Sonny asked as Elizabeth tried to catch up with what her eyes were seeing. This had all been a plan? Jason hadn't been hurt?

Jason nodded absently to Sonny before turning his attention back to her. "Elizabeth, are you okay?" He asked again, repeating himself from before.

"Yes… no… I don't understand." She admitted, tears welling up in her eyes. All she wanted in that moment was to curl up next to him and sleep for a thousand years.

"I'm so sorry this happened, Elizabeth. I'm going to call Emily or your Grandmother or whoever you want and set you up somewhere safe, I promise. I'll stay away." Jason said, his hand moving forward and barely touching her cheek before pulling back.

"No!" She cried, the tears really falling now. "I didn't go through all of that just so you could send me away again!"

Jason closed his eyes, his face tense. Sonny remained quiet in his seat. "They used you to get to me, just like I said they would."

"So?" She asked, "Clearly staying away isn't going to work, unless you'd like to run away again."

Behind her she heard a quiet wince that was probably from Sonny. She didn't pay him any attention. Jason stared at her and she'd of paid any price to know what he was thinking. She hated that their entire relationship boiled down to his word and told him so. She unleashed a speech that she never had the guts to before now and she could only blame the fact that she'd been kidnapped, held essentially hostage and then had been sure that she'd just witnessed his death. She screamed all her frustration out on him, sometimes calling him a hypocrite, or a coward or even once saying she loved him.

He didn't stop her, instead he just stared at her as though she was Taggart and he needed to keep from cracking.

"Well?" She hissed when she'd nearly finished, spots starting to dance in her vision.

"Well what?" Jason asked, his voice so calm she longed to start screaming at him again. She knew he felt things, and he felt them just as strongly as she did, but _sometimes_…

She took a shuddering breath, "What excuse are you going to give me that I haven't already answered for?"

Jason glanced behind her, probably at Sonny. Then his icy blue eyes were back on her, and she almost wanted to look away. She didn't, though, determined to prove that she could handle being with him. She _had proved_ that she could.

He didn't say anything, but then with him that was okay. He kissed her instead and she melted against him. She held onto his jacket, pulling herself closer, but he pulled back after only a few seconds. They were both breathing hard, and not just from the kiss. After all, she was fighting passing out after everything that had happened and he had essentially just had a sledgehammer to the chest. He kissed her forehead and pulled her back down to lay against his shoulder. "Sleep."

"You're staying?" She asked, eyes already closing.

"I'm staying."

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_When I started this it was entirely different, so the word impact had more to do with things, but I think this works too. I'm having fun with this, so if there's still an interest to see them, I have a few already written. Let me know in a review!_

_And thank you to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter!_


	3. Amaze

**At Random: **Amaze

**-000-**

_When I first pulled this word, I thought about sonograms. I was all set to write that, since I'm trying to both use random words for this series of one shots, but also to go with the first thing that pops in my head. That said, I've already done the baby thing and wasn't too eager to go that route. This got me thinking and now what we have here is a Shot-universe one-shot!_

_**Warning:**__ This chapter deals with some previous stories of mine: Shot in an Alley and its sequel Together. If you've read them, great, proceed. If not, just know that through a long process, Jason and Elizabeth are together, married and have two children, twins Winnie and Luca. _

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_

"You said it was going to be nerve-wracking when they started walking, but this is ridiculous." Elizabeth said as she walked hunched over with her hands behind Luca, who determinately went forward as though the thought of cracking his head open on the marble floors of Sonny's apartment meant nothing to him. It probably didn't.

Luca had started walking two weeks ago and was catching on pretty quickly. Winnie, not to be outdone, had started up a few days after him, as though she was offended that her brother had figured it out first. Luca was their laid back baby, where Winnie wasn't content to sit and be still ever. It made for some pretty interesting comparisons, especially between Jason and his son.

It didn't help matters that while Winnie had popped out a few new words, Luca had yet to speak. Considering the twins were only ten months old, this wasn't a cause for alarm at all. They were right on schedule and while Elizabeth and Carly were prompting Luca to say _anything,_ Jason thought it wasn't a big deal. _When he thinks something is important enough_, Jason told Elizabeth, _he'll tell us_.

"Wait until they start climbing." Carly said, causing Elizabeth to groan. Luca had successfully walked across the room to the dining room table, where he was using the chairs to steady himself. Michael walked over – further proof that children could and had learned to walk in Sonny's penthouse without any lasting damage – and started talking to his little cousin. Reluctantly, Elizabeth turned away from the two, trusting Michael, and sat down next to Jason, who was playing with Winnie.

"And to think, I cried when he took his first steps." Elizabeth said, even though she was smiling. She, like Jason, was in awe of every new thing the twins did.

Jason handed Winnie a block and leaned over to kiss Elizabeth, "You have to hit your head a lot harder to get brain damage, Elizabeth."

Sonny snorted, "That's low."

Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth clearly agreed with Sonny, "I'm his Mom, I get to worry."

"Even though he's really good at walking?" Jason asked, watching his son and nephew make patient circles around the dining room table. They stopped briefly to look out the window and Jason couldn't help but sit in silence at the sight of Michael pointing out boats to Luca just like Jason had done at that same window years ago.

At that second, Winnie decided that she too would like to move around. She used Jason to pull herself up and started talking toddling steps towards Elizabeth. Dutifully, Elizabeth stood and readied herself to follow behind her new walker. Sonny and Carly started laughing.

Jason stood up and walked over to Luca and Michael. "Boats?"

Michael smiled at his uncle. "Luca likes watching them."

As if in agreement Luca pointed a pudgy little finger out at the boats and then turned to his father as if to say, _Tell me about those!_

Jason smiled at his boys. "We could go tomorrow and look at them from the docks." He offered.

Michael smiled and gave a soft shout of "Yeah!" while Luca grinned, probably because Michael and Jason were.

"You see that building there?" Jason asked, pointing out the window. "That's your Mom's studio."

Luca looked intently, though Jason wasn't entirely sure that Luca remembered what Elizabeth's studio looked like, even though he'd been there a few times. She didn't generally bring the twin with her to work because, distractions aside, the paint fumes probably weren't good for them.

Still, Luca looked interested. Michael, on the other hand, had started drifting over to Winnie and Morgan. "I used to point all this out to him," Jason told his son, "So I don't think he needs to hear it again."

Luca smiled at Jason again and stepped closer to where Jason was kneeling. "Hi." Jason told his son, smiling when Luca pressed his little hands against Jason's face.

The baby grinned still and pointed at Jason, _"Da! Da!"_

Jason felt a slow grin come over his face as he leaned forward and kissed Luca's forehead. "Smart boy." He whispered while Elizabeth stopped dead over by the fireplace with Winnie.

"Who said that?" She called, but Jason just laughed.

Nothing his children did would cease to amaze him.

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_I hope you all enjoyed that little slice of Shot/Together!_


	4. Leak, Cancellation & Noise

**At Random: **Leak, Cancellation & Noise

0-0-0-0-0

_Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter! In this one you get a triple, because the words I pulled were kind of strange and hard to work with (actually, there was one in the middle, but I pulled a veto on 'herpetologist'). Enjoy!_

_Cancellation and Noise are a little angsty, just as a warning.

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_

**_- Leak -_**

"You take apart your motorcycle and put it back together cleaned in an afternoon, you know every little thing about your gun and this is too much for you?" Elizabeth asked, though Jason wasn't really sure if she was teasing or being serious.

He looked back at the job she'd asked him to complete. It was three in the morning, so no one would be able to help them and he was still a little mystified as to what exactly was going to make the situation better. So he told her so.

"I don't know either." She admitted. "Twist it or something."

Jason raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond any more than that. Elizabeth walked away, leaving him with the annoying sound that had driven her to drag him from the bed and find the tools he used to fix his bike. _Plink-plink-plink…_

He stared down at the wrench in his hand and then back up to the leaky pipe under the sink.

Only for Elizabeth would he be this… _domestic_…

**_- Cancellation -_**

Once, Elizabeth accused him of putting Sonny first, last and always. It was hard to see anything else, when he had let nearly everyone in his life go all in pursuit of working for Sonny. Even Elizabeth couldn't break through Jason's seemingly blind loyalty. When she'd walked out of the penthouse that night, she'd been sure that it was over between them.

She didn't need to be the be-all-end-all of his life, but she needed to be more than an afterthought behind his latest orders from Sonny.

She should have known better. They were destined to dance around each other until one of them gave in and, six months after she accused him of being blind for the mob, they both happened to give in at the same moment for the first time ever.

She'd apologized for saying what she had and he'd apologized for not trusting her with the truth. Still, sitting here in a busy restaurant holding her cell phone and listening to the message that he wasn't coming, wasn't even sure when he'd be home next, she couldn't help but feel like the biggest fool of them all.

**_- Noise -_**

There were some noises he'd hated from the very beginning – the sound of the monitors in his ICU room beeping and keeping him awake, Keesha saying anything but mostly the way 'I love you' sounded on her lips, the word 'we' coming out of one person standing alone, because it made no sense and so he wouldn't even dignify it to call it something other than noise.

Other sounds were more complex, they had emotions and history attached to them and so they were harder to understand. The way Monica's voice would plead with him, that strange gruff quality Edward got when the words were stern but his eyes weren't, the dead sound of Sonny's voice when things got too much for him, gunshots and the screams that went with them, but worst of all were tears.

It had taken him a while to realize entirely what they meant; that it was a way to let him know that the person he was with was sad. Not just quietly sad, like Robin was on the bridge sometimes, but the heart wrenching way that she'd been when he had refused to accept her going behind his back and asking Sonny to fire him.

He'd pushed her away, but he'd decided that sobs were the worse sound that he had ever heard in his life. It didn't matter who they were coming from, either. Be it a woman he loved, or a family member of one of the men who' died under his or Sonny's orders, they were all impossible to ignore or block out. He would just have to stand there, listening to someone die a little inside.

The only thing worse than the sobs themselves was the feeling of intense guilt if he happened to be the cause of them. It made his stomach go tight and his throat close up. He'd do anything to keep someone he loved from being hurt, and that included sobbing.

Now, though, lying in Elizabeth's arms on the cold pavement, he knew that it was his fault she was crying but also that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Jason," She said, voice breaking and shoulders shuddering, "Stay, stay _please_."

"_Eliz'bet…_" He slurred, his voice just a shaky as hers but for an entirely different reason, "Don't cry…"

Her eyes kept darting between him and the road ahead of them, waiting to see if an ambulance or Sonny showed up first, but the minute blood had begun to bubble out from his lips, she'd had to face the truth. "Stay awake. Don't talk, please, Jason, please…" She cried.

He stared at her, things going fuzzy. There was so much he wanted to tell her.

_Don't cry. I'm okay. You're okay. _

"Jason, Jason please…" Her voice was getting harder to hear and he didn't think it had anything to do with her.

_I love you. I'm sorry. Don't cry. _

She sobbed again, but he couldn't really hear it. He could see her, crying. Her lips moved and he could sort of make out his name in whatever litany she was saying.

_I love you. I wish I could kiss you. I'm so sorry. _

She screamed, but he didn't hear it. His eyes slid closed and then he didn't even see it.


	5. Warden

**At Random: **Warden

-0-0-0-0-

_Thanks to the readers and reviewers for the last chapter!

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_

Elizabeth sat still in the cold, sterile room. The metal table in front of her gleamed, but still the room seemed dark and oppressive. She waited for the guard or the warden or the officer or whoever to bring Jason in.

His visitation was beyond limited, but not by the system. Instead, it was Jason who said how often she could visit him. She was allowed to come by once a month, no more, but less if she wanted. He'd made that clear before they'd pulled him away. _Don't wait for me, don't feel like you have to come, don't stay loyal to me_ he'd told her, as if that would sway her in any way. She didn't need permission to love him, and even if she didn't have it, it didn't change things.

The door opened, but she didn't turn. Three years in and it almost hurt more to see him than it was to live without him. The chains shuffled and before she'd had a chance to prepare herself, he sat down in front of her.

She stared at him. This was not the Jason she'd fallen in love with. Her Jason needed only freedom to live, maybe even more than he needed love and certainly more than he needed her or Sonny or Carly or anyone else. Still, he'd given it up when the time came and now he sat in front of her half-dead.

His formerly blond hair had darkened with the lack of sunlight and his body seemed thinner every time she saw him, as though he'd decided to slowly starve himself to get out of the jail, one way or another.

There wasn't any expression on his face, not even happiness at the sight of her. It was his eyes that broke her hear the worst. They were dead, completely devoid of anything that made him Jason.

She forced a smile on her face, even though it was a lie. "Jason. I missed you."

"Elizabeth." He acknowledged quietly, his voice rough from what was clearly disuse. For the last three visits his voice had gotten so quiet that she had to watch his chapped lips to see if the words he spoke were what her mind came up with. Sometimes they weren't. She could see a mark on his bottom lip that looked like it had been recently split. She wondered how it had happened. In her mind, in some romantic desperate scenario, he'd been standing up for someone who didn't deserve to be in jail and who needed a hero. That would prove her loyal, brave Jason was still in there somewhere. She knew, though, that what had actually happened wouldn't be nearly as heroic. She could ask, he would tell her, but it would wreck the necessary illusion she'd made up so she didn't lose herself when she'd lost him.

He didn't say anything else, but she knew the drill. "I saw Michael the other day," She told him, "He's getting so smart, Jason. I asked him what he'd learned in school and he shot off all these random facts at me. All I could see was you."

"Morgan?" He asked, just like he always did. Next would be Emily and then Elizabeth herself. He asked about the four of them every visit. Once he had asked about the Quartermaines and three times about Carly. Never once had he asked about Sonny.

Even if he did ask about his 'best friend' she wouldn't have an answer for him. The first year, she'd gone to Sonny after each visit. She'd told him how desperately Jason needed to be set free. She'd asked him to get another lawyer, to break him out, to bribe someone. He put her off every time with pretty words that she now knew meant nothing. The last time she'd gone she had told him Jason was dying, might already be dead. His response was the same careful words and he hadn't looked at her. In that moment, she'd known the truth.

Sonny was never going to help Jason. He was going to let the man he'd called his brother rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life, or the 'twenty years' that Jason had said to Sonny before they had pulled him away, the last words that passed between Sonny and Jason.

She didn't let on to him that she thought anything was different now than it had been any other visit. She kept talking, kept telling him about the world that kept moving without him. Inside, she was begging him to react, to smile but above all else, to keep going.

She'd given up on Sonny. She would have a hard time restraining herself if she ever crossed him in the street, the urge to spit on him would be too great. The only credit she could give him was that he was careful to make sure he never crossed her path, but that wasn't for her – it was his own cowardice. Carly might beg Sonny to save Jason still, to do right by the friend dying in jail for him, but Sonny knew exactly why Elizabeth would no longer do the same. He knew she saw exactly what he was.

Instead, she'd done what she should have done all along. She called in every favor she had, every favor she knew Jason had.

She'd called Luke, who she could guilt into helping with tears - his brilliance and network vital in the rescue mission Elizabeth had finally gotten the courage to start herself.

She called Ned Ashton, who had the money and the pity and the strange feeling of responsibility towards Jason that had thankfully really never gone away.

Then she called Benny, who had always been kind to her and had always been loyal to Jason.

Through Luke a plan had been cobbled together and now all that needed to happen was the guard shift change at two in the morning the next day.

A guard knocked on the door and she realized that once again she'd successfully kept up an almost entirely one-sided conversation for the full hour. He didn't speak, even when she leaned forward to kiss him. When he responded and kissed her back, she felt like crying. She wanted to tell him what was happening, to keep him going, but she knew to do so would be suicide. She kept it inside, just barely, and whispered the same things she always did. "I love you. I'll see you soon."

"I love you." He said back, but didn't sound like he meant it. He probably did, in an abstract sort of way, but she wondered if he knew what love was anymore, she wondered if he felt anything at all.

She stood up and gave him another fake smile. She hated leaving him behind, but tried to remind herself that this time tomorrow they'd be on a plane to someplace that she'd never heard of, with money and passports and a place to stay. They'd be together again and she could help him rebuild himself.

She looked at him and couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't already dead.

* * *

-0-0-0-0-

_I honestly don't know where that came from! Angst again, sorry. We'll see where my next word sends me. _

_Also:  
_

"…_or the 'twenty years' that Jason had said to Sonny before they had pulled him away, the last words that passed between Sonny and Jason." _

_This, for those who were confused, references a conversation that Sonny and Jason had early on in their friendship, where Sonny said that he believed that Jason wouldn't squeal on him if he was ever caught, that Jason would sit in jail for twenty years if that was what it took. Of course, that particular conversation continues on with Sonny giving Jason advice to ensure that this never happens, but I've gone a different direction… ;)_

_**Please, review!**_


	6. Soar & Reverence

**At Random: **Soar & Reverence

* * *

_**- Soar -**_

"He's going to be a little… well, he's not going to be much like Jason." Bobbie said with a grin. She adjusted the IV for Jason and winked at Elizabeth before leaving the room.

When Jason had called sometime after lunch to tell her that there had been an accident, she'd felt her insides freeze. She'd frantically shot out question after question, but Jason had quickly corrected his rather blunt opener.

"_No, Elizabeth, I'm okay. Listen," Jason said once he'd managed to get her to both be quiet and breathe. In the background she could hear Sonny and he sounded like he was snickering. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of that. _

"_I'm listening." She promised. _

"_Okay. We got a shipment of coffee and one of the ropes snapped. I got knocked over and now my arm is broken." Jason explained, speaking quickly as if concerned she was at some sort of breaking point. _

_There was a pause on the line after Jason finished his explanation. "Elizabeth, did you hear me?"_

_Instead of answering, she just burst out laughing. _

She wasn't laughing an hour later when it turned out Jason would need surgery to put pins in his arm. That wasn't entirely what she had in mind when she rejoiced in a boyfriend with such a normal injury. Sure, surgery on his broken arm wasn't nearly the same as a gunshot wound, but it still wasn't anything to laugh about.

The surgery had taken two hours and was, the surgeon told her, a complete success. He'd have to be in a cast for five to six weeks, which made Sonny mutter under his breath for reasons Elizabeth could only guess at. She'd been allowed back into Recovery, where she now sat, waiting for Jason to be awake and coherent. Bobbie, who had requested to be there for Jason, had given her the full run-down of the injury, including the fact that Jason was currently on some pretty heavy-duty drugs for pain.

Still, the big-goofy-on-anyone-else's-face smile that Jason gave her when he opened his eyes ten minutes later was possibly the biggest shock of the day. "Hi." He greeted, sounding drunk.

"Hi, Jason," She said, smiling. "How do you feel?"

"Good." He told her as he looked down at his arm. When he saw the cast he got such an exaggerated look of surprise on his face that she nearly burst out laughing. "What happened?"

She took a deep breath to keep her giggles at bay, "You broke your arm, remember?"

"Nope." He told her, and she tried to get over the sound of Jason Morgan saying 'nope' with little success.

"I'm sure you will later, when you… feel better." She assured him.

He gave her a look, "I've heard that one before."

That shocked Elizabeth so much she let out some sort of undignified sounding snort. Jason wasn't big on sharing when it came to the aftermath of the accident. "This isn't quite the same, Jason. You're just out of it because they gave you something for the pain."

"Who did?" He asked, sounding half-curious, half-suspicious.

"Bobbie." She told him easily, glad it wasn't someone like Alan Quartermaine or Tony Jones.

Jason smiled and relaxed, "I like Bobbie."

"I know," Elizabeth agreed, bemused, "She likes you too."

"I like you better." He said, leaning forward and whispering as though this were a secret. Once, it would have been.

She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss, pulling back quickly when he lurched forward as though he wanted to make out with her right in the middle of the recovery room. Neither she nor Jason had any problem with PDA, but a little post-surgery hooking up was probably taking it a bit far. "I like you too." She assured him when he groaned a little.

"I like you a lot." He said, and she wondered if this was his little attempt at seduction. "I like you best."

Hmmm… Elizabeth thought, that could do with a little investigating. "Better than Carly?"

He nodded a little frantically and so quickly she knew he was serious. "She's my best friend and she didn't even know about Jason Quartermaine and she called me a side of fries, but she always needs me and she's so bossy."

If someone had walked in right then and offered her a tape of what Jason had just said in exchange for a year of her life, Elizabeth would have agreed – no hesitation. "I like you better than Carly too, Jason." She said and he gave her a relieved grin as if this had been a concern for him.

She could push her luck and ask about Sonny too, but decided against it. Not out of any insecurities either, but more because she knew that he wouldn't appreciate it. Really, there was no one else safe to ask about not unless she wanted to hear more than she probably should.

She was saved from having to figure out what conversation she could have with him that she would be okay with him remembering having had when Jason yawned. "Are you tired?" She asked.

Jason nodded, his eyes already fluttering shut. Apparently being that animated wore him out.

"Sleep." She said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek and risking that he might decide to kiss her back again. He didn't and so she took it as a sign that he really was tired. "I'll be here when you wake up."

"I know." Jason muttered, already half-under.

She smiled, happy that he trusted her like that; that he expected her there when he woke up, not because he demanded it, but because _he_ knew _her_.

His breath evened out and she still sat by him, smiling softly. There wasn't one thing that Elizabeth would change about Jason, she loved him wholly and completely. That said, it was still fun to get an inside view of Jason's thoughts, even if he had to be drugged up and flying high to tell her.

_**- Reverence -**_

She drew like a woman possessed, like in the next moment someone would come along and pull the sketch book and pencil from her hands and she'd lose the image forever. Sometimes, her life with Jason felt like that. Sonny, the police, Carly or someone else would come to her studio and demand him away. She hated it and she told him so, even though it made him looked down at his feet and offer to leave when she did. He would, if she asked him to, but she never would and he knew it. Just like she knew that he would always come back when something else pulled him away.

She remembered Emily coming to her and complaining about Robin and how she'd left Jason even though she knew the risks and the rules when they'd gotten back together. Elizabeth could remember wondering to herself about that whole relationship. Now, though, she knew exactly how Robin felt. It was intoxicating, loving Jason Morgan when he was just being himself. She could think of few flaws in their relationship, but that only applied when it was just the two of them in her studio. That couldn't be the whole relationship though, they had to leave sometime and that was where the problems started.

He'd come back last night so obviously tired that she hadn't had the heart to ask him about the reports in the paper and the gunshots she'd heard down on the docks. She just laid him down on the couch and told him to sleep. He hadn't said a word.

As tempting as it was, she didn't join him on the couch. She wanted to sketch him in the effort of keeping him with her in any way possible.

She had entire sketchbooks all of him.

She used her eraser to smooth the lines she'd used to make his jaw, her eyes darting back and forth from him to the paper, every moment aware that the next might be interrupted by a cell phone call.

Months ago, she'd turned in a sketch of him to her art teacher as homework. With one long look at Elizabeth's sketch, her teacher had quietly commented that the best pieces were the ones desperately rendered. He'd said that he could feel the reverence she'd drawn him with coming through the page even then.

She didn't deny it. She never would.

* * *

_Okay, at least one of them wasn't angsty! I hope everyone liked these two enough to review. Thank you to everyone that has reviewed thus far – you have no idea how much it means to me!_


	7. Origin & Method

**At Random: **Origin & Method

* * *

_**Thank you again to the reviewers!** One of my summer resolutions is to get a new chapter of Shadowing Death or Coming Home up, since it's been forever for those. I keep getting stuck! These two random words are pretty short, but I figured something was better than nothing. Origin is based off an idea that I've flirted with before, but love.  
_

_Origin is exclusively about Jason. Method, however, gives us some liason love!_

_**===Origin===**_

Jason was born into a world full of people who knew lots of things about him while he himself knew nothing. He remembered how painfully confused he'd been when a man who called himself his father came into the room and threw all these facts and expectations at him all the while beaming at him and fighting tears.

This conversation, _his_ _first_, served a bigger purpose than Alan Quartermaine ever knew.

It presented Jason with the first thing in his life that he figured out for himself that was exclusively _for_ himself. Namely, that he was not this person the man had praised and that he didn't _want_ to be.

This single truth fueled him from that moment on. He based his entire life on it and gave him a reason to make decisions. Had Jason laid in that bed and realized that he wanted to please the shaking man before him, the world would be a different place. Had he awoken and realized that he liked the routine and calmness the hospital provided, the world would be a different place. Had he woken up and been too out of it to process Alan's words another conversation might have been his first and might have led him to make a different conclusion.

What if Lila had been there when he woke up again? Or Robin? Or AJ?

Later, when Jason was more capable and willing to look back and see different ways things might have gone, a skill he most definitely couldn't have used back then – hindsight and regret being the property of those who had pasts – he thought about that moment when he'd responded to Alan's breathless request _"Can you speak?"_

It led him to make another decision, entirely for himself without anyone else weighing in on his thoughts. In the beginning of his life, these decisions and realizations were things to be treasured, because he had so little control over who he was. Now, they were even more treasured, because he had other considerations weighing in on every move he made. He had to obey Sonny, help Carly, keep clear of the police and find new ways to keep the ones he loved safe all the while avoiding random thugs and bullets. This decision, however, was the first one in quite a while he'd made alone and it wasn't one would ever chose to examine too deeply:

Never would he tell Alan Quartermaine that his heartfelt speech to his newly awoken son, one that was only designed to sooth and comfort, had caused the young man he loved so much to run from him right into the mob.

_**===Method===**_

"Jason, you know you don't have to run to her every time she calls crying."

"I don't have to, I want to, Elizabeth."

"I think you just told you first real lie!"

_Glare_

"Oh come on, Jason, you only want to because if you don't talk Carly down now you might end up having to break her out of jail, or…"

"I wouldn't break her out, I'd be the first person people would suspect. That would be a dumb plan."

"Or out of a mental institution…"

"_Elizabeth…"_

"Or beat up some guy she'd flirted with…"

"That's happened before."

"Or pay someone off to keep them quiet…"

"That too."

"Or maybe wear a wire for the Feds…"

"Elizabeth, stop."

"Okay, if logic isn't going to work on you, then tell me why you can't call Sonny!"

"They're probably fighting."

"So, then it's his mess to clean up!

"Carly is my friend."

"I'm your girlfriend. Sonny is her husband. He said the vows, she's his now."

_Silence_

"I get loyalty, Jason, but this is like… enabling!"

"I'm not her enabler, I'm…"

"Her friend, I got it. At this point, I think you're just going out to save her out of habit. Wouldn't you be doing her a favor if you called her _husband_?"

"Or she'll do something stupid anyway."

"Jason, Carly is not your responsibility."

_Head tilt_

"Look, don't you think it would be better for everyone if Sonny could show up to save Carly and probably smooth over whatever stupid little fight they had?"

"Sonny and Carly are not everyone."

"And you could stay here… with me… alone."

"Elizabeth…"

"Kiss me."

…

…

…

"Let's go upstairs, Jason."

…

…

…

"I'll call Sonny."

"Smart boy."


End file.
